Ejection seat parachute deployment systems and methods
AssigneeRockwell Collins, Inc.
InventorsKassidy L. Carson, John Hampton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An article of manufacture may include a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: receiving, via the processor, an ejection command for ejecting an ejection seat from an aircraft; determining, via the processor, an aircraft or ejection seat altitude and an aircraft or ejection seat speed; and commanding, via the processor, a simultaneous or staged deployment of a drogue parachute and a main parachute upon or just prior to separation of the ejection seat from the aircraft, the simultaneous or staged deployment being described herein.
Claims17
An article of manufacture including a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- receiving, via the processor, an ejection command for ejecting an ejection seat from an aircraft;
- determining, via the processor, an aircraft altitude or ejection altitude and an aircraft speed or an ejection seat speed;
- commanding, via the processor, a simultaneous deployment of a drogue parachute and a main parachute upon separation of the ejection seat from the aircraft, the simultaneous deployment being between 0 and 150 milliseconds from one another;
- and
- commanding, via the processor, separation of the drogue parachute after a time threshold measured from the simultaneous deployment, wherein the time threshold is between 100 milliseconds and 400 milliseconds.
An ejection seat, comprising:
- a seat back;
- a drogue parachute stowed in or on the seat back;
- a main parachute stowed in or on the seat back;
- a processor;
- and
- a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining, via the processor, whether an aircraft is within a predetermined zone, the predetermined zone including a speed range and an altitude range,
- commanding, via the processor, simultaneous deployment of the drogue parachute and the main parachute from the seat back upon separation of the ejection seat from the aircraft in response to determining the aircraft is within the predetermined zone, the simultaneous deployment being between 0 and 150 milliseconds from one another;
- and
- commanding, via the processor, separation of the drogue parachute after a time threshold measured from the simultaneous deployment, wherein the time threshold is between 100 milliseconds and 400 milliseconds.
An aircraft comprising:
- an ejection seat, including:
- a first sensor;
- a second sensor;
- and
- a drogue parachute stowed in or on the ejection seat;
- a main parachute stowed in or on the ejection seat;
- a processor in electronic communication with the first sensor and the second sensor;
- a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining, via the processor and based on sensor data received from the first sensor and the second sensor, whether the aircraft or the ejection seat is within a predetermined zone, the predetermined zone including a speed range and an altitude range,
- commanding, via the processor, simultaneous deployment of the drogue parachute and the main parachute from the ejection seat upon separation of the ejection seat from the aircraft in response to determining the aircraft or the ejection seat is within the predetermined zone, the simultaneous deployment being between 0 and 150 milliseconds from one another;
- and
- commanding, via the processor, deployment of only the main parachute in response to determining the aircraft is in a second zone having a speed less than a speed threshold of the speed range and an altitude less than a maximum altitude of the altitude range.
An article of manufacture including a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- receiving, via the processor, an ejection command for ejecting an ejection seat from an aircraft;
- determining, via the processor, an aircraft altitude or ejection altitude and an aircraft speed or ejection seat speed;
- determining the aircraft altitude and the aircraft speed are within a predetermined zone, wherein the predetermined zone comprises an aircraft speed range between 25 knots and 300 knots and an aircraft altitude range between 0 feet (0 meters) and 20,000 feet (6,096 meters), and wherein a first threshold speed to be considered within the predetermined zone decreases or stays a same speed as the aircraft altitude or the ejection altitude increases;
- and
- commanding, via the processor, a simultaneous deployment of a drogue parachute and a main parachute upon separation of the ejection seat from the aircraft, the simultaneous deployment being between 0 and 150 milliseconds from one another.
An aircraft comprising:
- an ejection seat, including:
- a first sensor including a static pressure sensor;
- a second sensor including a dynamic pressure sensor;
- and
- a drogue parachute stowed in or on the ejection seat;
- a main parachute stowed in or on the ejection seat;
- a processor in electronic communication with the first sensor and the second sensor;
- a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining, via the processor and based on sensor data received from the first sensor and the second sensor, whether the aircraft or the ejection seat is within a predetermined zone, the predetermined zone including a speed range and an altitude range, and
- commanding, via the processor, simultaneous deployment of the drogue parachute and the main parachute from the ejection seat upon separation of the ejection seat from the aircraft in response to determining the aircraft or the ejection seat is within the predetermined zone, the simultaneous deployment being between 0 and 150 milliseconds from one another.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.